Police start free fingerprinting service

Hood River News

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

It's a black and white issue for the Hood River City Police Department.

Last week Community Resource Officer Aaron Jubitz initiated a free fingerprinting service that is available to the public for background checks related to employment and for home child identification records.

"As with other aspects of our community programs, this will give the public another opportunity to interact with police officers in a non-law enforcement setting," said Jubitz.

He said the new service saves Hood River residents both time and money since they won't have to drive to The Dalles any longer to be fingerprinted so they can take advantage of a job opportunity.

"We wanted to provide a convenient place for people to have this service done," said Jubitz.

Police Chief Tony Dirks said the department routinely gets two to three requests each week for fingerprinting but previously has had to refer people to its sister agency in The Dalles. He said there will be no charge for local fingerprinting unless the volume of people being served rises to the level that it requires extra manpower and materials.

Jubitz said some parents want to have their child fingerprinted so they can aid law enforcement officials in a search if the youngster should ever be missing. He reiterated that families take home all copies of that paperwork and no records are kept by police.

For more information about the fingerprinting service, or to make an appointment, call the police department at 386-3942 or Jubitz at 387-5258.